Ty Lawson: Latest News, Rumors, Speculation Surrounding Free-Agent PG
Ty Lawson will look to rejuvenate his career this summer by finding an opportunity on the free-agent market, but that reportedly won't come in New York.
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Knicks, Lawson Not a Match
Sunday, June 5
Marc Berman of the New York Post reported the Knicks believe Lawson is "too big a risk" because of his issues off the basketball court.
Lawson, 28, has been arrested four times for driving under the influence and served a two-game suspension in December. He entered treatment for alcohol addiction last summer. Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke said Lawson's addiction at times carried over into his day-to-day work with the team.
“There were times when he was better than others," Kroenke said, per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. "But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.”
The Nuggets traded Lawson to the Houston Rockets last July, where he spent part of an ill-fated season as a backup ball-handler. Lawson was an oil-water mix with the Rockets—especially shooting guard James Harden—and turned in by far the worst year of his NBA career. He spent his final 13 games of 2015-16 with the Indiana Pacers after reaching a buyout with Houston.
Overall, Lawson finished with career lows in points (5.7), rebounds (1.8), field-goal percentage (39.3) and three-point percentage (33.3). This was all a season removed from Lawson nearly averaging a double-double (15.2 points, 9.6 assists) as a high-octane offensive spark plug in Denver.
New Pacers coach Nate McMillan said he would be open to Lawson returning, per Conrad Brunner of 1070 The Fan:
"I was in the West for a number of years coaching against that guy. He has the speed and he certainly has the game to establish that tempo. When he was in Denver under (George) Karl, he was deadly. There’s probably one other guy that has that type of speed – John Wall. So Ty certainly could be the guy to establish that tempo. That was the main reason Larry tried to bring him in. I think he only played 13, 14 games for us so it was hard to really take a good look at him.
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Wherever Lawson goes, he'll need to recoup millions in lost salary. As part of the agreement to send him to Houston, Lawson made his 2016-17 salary ($13.2 million) non-guaranteed. That made things much easier when the Rockets bought him out—thus turning down that option—but only further cemented this as the worst season of Lawson's career.
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